Voters in the Wayland Union School District will be asked to approve the renewal of an 18.387-mill non-homestead tax levy in a special election Tuesday, May 7.
The non-homestead millage applies only to commercial and industrial properties and to residents with second homes. Most homeowners will not be be affected.
If the millage renewal is approved, provisions of the Headlee rollback will be overriden. The Headlee Amendment, approved statewide in 1978, insists that tax levies be reduced, rolled back, whenever the tax increase is greater than the inflation rate.
Because there isn’t a lot of publicity about the renewal and its appearance on low election turnout dates, it sometimes can be turned down, so Superintendent Tim Reeves and Assistant Superintendent for Finance Leslie Wagner advocated voters be provided with information that it’s a renewal of the same millage rate and it won’t affect most homeowners.
The non-homestead idea was part of the Proposal A package that was passed statewide in 1994. Most homeowners pay a six-mill levy for schools under Proposal A and businesses, industries and owners of more than one home pay 18 mills.
The proposal, if passed, will be in effect for seven years, from January 2025 to January 2032.
The early voting provision approved by statewide ballot issue in November 2022 do not apply to this election.
